Wednesday 27 May 2015 09:00, UK
Louis van Gaal says some Premier League clubs' facilities are so poor he has been forced to sit in the dressing-room toilets.
The Manchester United manager told MUTV the pokey changing areas at some stadiums were the one feature of English football to shock him in his first year.
And van Gaal has even been reduced to running through his pre-match preparations from the toilet - not due to the infamous "squeaky bum time" coined by his predecessor Sir Alex Ferguson, but because there are no spare seats elsewhere.
He said: "I can say a positive thing and I can say a negative thing. Let’s start with the negative thing. The accommodation for the players to dress themselves, to change into their club shirts, are in most stadiums not so good.
"And also the place for the manager, a lot of times I am sitting on the toilet. But not on the toilet to make something, but because there is no other place. That was, for me, surprising."
The way football is lived here in the minds of the people is unbelievable, and it is what I expected.
Van Gaal has been more impressed with the devotion of supporters, saying: "The way football is lived here in the minds of the people is unbelievable, and it is what I expected.
"I think it’s fantastic to be here in England. They live football, football is living, and living is football. That is not so in Germany. In Spain a little bit more but here it’s unbelievable. It’s fantastic to see."
